George Carlin: Biography

George Carlin was born on May 12, 1937, in the Bronx, New York. After dropping out of high
school and enlisting in the Air Force, Carlin began taking radio jobs, eventually attracting the
attention of Lenny Bruce, who helped get him appearances on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar.
Carlin went on to become a popular stand-up comedian, author, and film and television actor.

Early Life

George Denis Patrick Carlin was born May 12, 1937, in the Bronx, New York. Carlin and his
older brother, Pat, were primarily raised by their mother in Manhattan's Morningside Heights
section. Mary Carlin, a devout Irish Catholic, worked as a secretary to support her children. She
had left Carlin's father Patrick, a national advertising manager for the New York Sun, when he
was an infant.

Carlin attended parochial school and much of his negative religious sentiment stems from his
experience as a Roman Catholic altar boy. Carlin completed two years of high school before
dropping out in the ninth grade.

In 1954, at age 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force as a radar technician and was stationed at
Shreveport, Louisiana. Over the next three years, Carlin earned his high school equivalency and
moonlighted as a disc jockey at a local radio station. He also received three court-martials and
numerous disciplinary punishments. After a general discharge in 1957, he took radio jobs in
Boston and Fort Worth, Texas.

Early Comedy Career

In 1959, Carlin teamed up with Texas newscaster, Jack Burns. The pair collaborated on a
morning radio show in Fort Worth before relocating to Hollywood, where they attracted the
attention of the legendary Lenny Bruce. Bruce helped Burns and Carlin secure appearances
on The Tonight Showwith Jack Paar.

Burns and Carlin eventually split up, and over the next few years Carlin continued to make
numerous appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, as well as 29 appearances
on The Merv Griffin Show.
In the early 1960s, Carlin got his start as a stand-up comic by performing on the Las Vegas
circuit and entertaining TV audiences. Carlin enjoyed moderate success until the mid-70s when
he re-invented his image and adopted a less conventional, somewhat vulgar comedy routine.
Carlin's scripted monologues began to represent his disillusioned attitude toward the world in
which explored the highly sensitive issues of Vietnam, politics, religion, American culture,
drugs, the demise of humanity and the right to free speech.

Seven Words Routine

In July of 1972, Carlin was arrested for violating obscenity laws in Milwaukee after his infamous
routine "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television."

When a radio station played a recording of Carlin's "Seven Words" routine, it sparked a legal
case over obscenity regulations. In 1978, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the government's right
to penalize stations that broadcast such material on public airwaves during hours (6 a.m. and 10
p.m.) when young people may typically tune in.

As a self-professed atheist and avid cocaine user, his adversaries deemed him anti-religious and
disrespectful of society. However, the comedian's new material brought him success from the
younger counterculture. Carlin illustrated his anti-establishment views by being the first host of
the risque TV show Saturday Night Live on October 11, 1975.

Comic Great

In 1977, Carlin starred in his first of HBO comedy specials, On Location: George Carlin at
USC. In all, he did 14 such specials, including 2008's It's Bad For Ya!

Carlin received two Grammy Awards for FM & AM (1990) and Jammin' in New York (1992).

Carlin published Brain Droppings in 1997. The book included his comedic take on life, society
and politics. It spent 18 weeks on the New York Times' best-seller list. Two years later,
syndicated columnist Mike Barnicle was suspended from the Boston Globe, after he had
plagiarized passages from Carlin's book. To Carlin's benefit, the widely publicized controversy
led to an increase in book sales.

Throughout his career, Carlin took on a number of comedic roles in films such as Outrageous
Fortune (1987), Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1990), The Prince of Tides (1991) and
Dogma(1999). In 2006, he provided the voice of Fillmore, a hippie Volkswagen bus, in the
animated movie Cars.

Legacy

Carlin was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1987.

In addition to his acting, writing and recording, Carlin continued to perform about 150 dates a
year on the road. In 2004, he placed second behind Richard Pryor on Comedy Central's list of
"Top 100 Comics of All Time." On June 17, 2008, just five days before his death, it was
announced that he was being awarded the 11th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.